EthanCainePoker.com

Daily Update…Back into the Rhythm

Just a quick update.  I played for 30 mins after reading a couple chapters of Zen & the Art of Poker.  I read the chapters on hesitation which were very interesting.

Basically the point of it is to take the same amount of time looking at your cards and generally acting in the same time frame each time.  The only reason you should deviate from this is too indicate misinformation.

Did quite well financially as I almost tripled my buy in.  The point of course is not to focus on the money but rather to focus on playing well.  Which is what I have been doing.

Feeling good about playing poker again and I will continue to play at least 30mins a day.

-Ethan Caine
Follow Me On Twitter @RealEthanCaine

Zen & the Art Of Poker Lesson I Learned Today

I just finished the calmness & rhythm section in Zen & the Art of Poker.  Excellent section that talks alot about not trying to bully the table or alternatively be a rock.  Its about taking the middle road because thats what works.  Sure bullying SOMETIMES works and being a rock SOMETIMES works but the middle way works most if not all the time.

“Advance with bayonet; if you encounter mush, proceed; if you encounter steel, fall back.”

-Zen & Art Of Poker

Tonight I was playing and I encountered “steel” so too speak and I did not back down. As a result I lost the entire pot:

Should Have Withdrawn

The guy was betting small through out the hand and I of course overvalued Top Pair. That last bet I should have folded.

Hopefully I will know for next time.

-Ethan Caine
Follow Me On Twitter @RealEthanCaine

Beating Micro Limits – Rush Poker 5cent/10cent

Lately I have not been playing poker because I have been working on other projects.  However I am ready to reintegrate poker back into my daily routine as I only have 89 days left until I have to take a dump on my bosses desk so that I may quit my job.

I have recently read an article written on PokerBank.com and I will summarize it here for you now.  I have been informed that it is an excellent strategy not only for Rush Poker but micro limits in general.

It is as follows:

Don’t Try and Outplay Your Opponents:

You may think you are the best player on the table however if you try and represent a 3 of a kind and you WILL get called down with bottom pair and lose.   You only have to be a little better than your opponent to beat them.

Micro Limit Players Love To Chase

Pot odds don’t mean much in MICRO because if someone calls your massive raise on a flush draw and you have pocket As you will win most of the time.  Just be ready for a big suck out.  Bet big hear because most of the time you will win.

Buy In For The Max But Don’t Be Afraid To Lose It

You will get sucked out on by people playing poor odds hands however don’t be afraid to put your stack in the middle when you have the best of it.

Fortune favors the BOLD but also the PREPARED

Don’t Give Your Opponents Tips

If your AA all in Preflop gets cracked by 22 don’t yell and scream at the person who made that horrible play.  Just quietly re buy in and let them make that same play over and over again.  In the long run you will come out ahead by alot.

Bet Your Good Hands Fold Your Bad Hands

Basic strategy that alot of micro players ignore, but not you….right?

Beware of Raising

If a micro player raises they have a solid hand, beware.  Alternatively micro players are much happier calling than they are raising.

Don’t Bluff

Bluffing is a way to try and outplay your opponent.  Due to a large amount of players seeing the flop your bluff is useless and dangerous to your stack.

Don’t Be To Concerned About Your Image

Don’t waste your time getting tricky, just stick to ABC because changing gears doesn’t do much.  No one will notice because they are simply playing 2card poker.

Thanks for reading…you can view the original article here.

-Ethan

Tennative Rush Poker Strategy

After losing my first $250 buy in I decided to throw another $200 in and try some different things.

Basically I will be playing SSS Early Position for every hand. I fold EVERYTHING PreFlop except:

JJ QQ KK AA

I will call AK if it is late position and no one has raised but I consider this a drawing hand.  I have looked at a number of top grinders online and these are the hands they mainly play.

The great thing about RUSH poker is that I can simply quickfold until I get one of them.

Because you can’t really get a read on your opponents in Rush playing the TOP EV hands seems to be the only way to go.

Anyway I will try this out and let you guys know whats what.

-Ethan

Refining My Rush Poker Game…

Couple days ago I lost 5 buyins in about 60 mins playing Full Tilt Pokers new Rush Poker. Annoyed I decided to take a day or so off and gather my thoughts. While gathering my thoughts I totally spent 10 hours a day playing BIOSHOCK because BIOSHOCK 2 comes out on Feb 9th. I have a feeling I will be taking another couple days off to gather my thoughts around that time too…heh

Anyway I was talking to Dustin @DustinJanzen of DustinJanzen.com and he recommended:

Slowing Down: This was the single most useful piece of advice. I play RUSH way to fast. Actually the problem was I didn’t really know how to play rush. I figured because it was such a fast game I could just quickfold till I got a monster hand. Thats sort of what everyone else is doing and as it is with many things in life:

Doing what everyone else is doing is a sure fire way to lose.

3 Betting: So I slowed down and started 3 betting alot more. This means LATE position to the BLINDS if someone position raises me I will RERAISE them. Almost 70% of the time this works.

If they DO call your RERAISE then its time to play some poker. When the flop hits and its pretty ragged take another stab at it. It usually will miss them. If they call, then just check it down unless you FLOP a MONSTER in which case just trap or simply ALL IN.

If they RERAISE your RERAISE then its time to fold the hand unless you have a PREFLOP monster like AA or KK. I wouldn’t play anything less than that on RUSH in this situation.

I am slowly tweaking my rush game an I feel that RUSH will be my primary source of income by MARCH 2010.

-Ethan

Rush Poker – Lost 8 Buy In’s in 1 Hour

A couple of the buyins were lost because of suck outs like ALL IN PF my KK vs QQ and they flop a set. However the others were simply bad calls. While these calls would have been fine for some games Rush requires a different kind of strategy.

Since you can’t really get to much of a history on your opponents you have to really rely on your cards and betting patterns. Stealing isn’t a good idea unless you really detect weakness. However usually its just more profitable to find another hand.

I have decided too only play:
PreFlop All in – AA, KK
PreFlop Bet Hard QQ,JJ,TT

Post Flop All in:
2 Pairs (if obvious flush or strait isn’t there)
Three of a kind (if obvious flush or strait isn’t there)
Straits
Flushes
Full Houses
Royal/Strait Flush

As a Result:
Value of: A x Suited goes WAY UP as I will call moderate bets to see the flop and draw out a Flush
Value of ALL Pocket Pairs goes up as well – Call small to medium sized bets PF to hit a set
Call suited connectors to draw out a strait but only if its cheap

Full Houses and up obviously your ALL IN
I buy in for $10 and push hard when I have one of these hands.

Rush + Rakeback = Lots of Cash
Some multi tabler players are already averageing $50 an hour ALONE in rake back. So all you really need to do is sit around and wait for the nuts while earning your $50 / hour.

-Ethan

Plugging Up Leaks In My Game

Before I implement Danial Negreanu’s Small Ball strategy into my game I feel I must plug up a large # of leaks I have identified.

-Playing Dominated Hands
-Over Valuing Top Pair (same as above but more specific)
-Slow Playing Hands I shouldn’t
-Tournament Pressure
-Bluffing in the wrong situations

Going too work on the dominated hand one first because I lose the most money on it.

-Ethan

Donkey Donkey – Day 4 Grinding

Keep making mistakes, stupid mistakes like the following.

All In After Flop With NOTHING..donkey donkey

Lost $7 on a stupid BLUFF.  A case of me overvaluing Premium PreFlop hands After the Flop…live and learn.

Another awesome call when I went ALL IN after the flop with over cards and got raped by pocket As.

My Bum was bleeding after this raping...

SO I need to work on a HUGE leak in my game and STOP playing dominated hands.

Damage isn’t too bad since I made back a little of what I lost.  Sitting at $113 instead of $127 so I lost $12 today.

Night isn’t over and I’m still got lots of poker left in me.

-Ethan

Donkey Call Cost Me $4

The Grinding continues.  So far I have done 90mins of “official” grinding.  Just wanted to post one of my dumber donkey call mistakes.  I over valued a premium PREFLOP hand on the river when I had NOTHING.

Anyway this stupid decision cost me $4.

Donkey Donkey

Anyway the goal is $10 an hour and so far the 90 mins I’ve played I’m at $35.

-Ethan

Flush vs Top Pair – Check Raise ALLIN FTW

I made a moderately decent play today.  Guy raised PF with AQ, I was BB with K8 suited so it was only 20cents to call.  I was first to act as the flop didn’t look like it hit anyone so I bet the pot.  Guy called, Ace came on the turn.  I checked to feign weakness since I had the nut hand for this flop.  He bet $2 to try and get me off the pot.  I of course went all in, he called and my flush took it down.

Flush vs Top Pair

I heard one of the pros on Full Tilt Poker say when in low stakes someone goes all in after a raise its usually an “F*ck Off” bet.  Personally I have been trapped by people with monster hands more than people trying to bluff me so I would ignore the advice of someone just wanting you off the pot.  If you don’t have a decent hand FOLD.  Even if the guy is bluffing risking all your chips is not the way to find out.

-Ethan